1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a “best price” search engine, that allows for use of “smart coupons,” such as might be used in e-commerce.
2. Related Art
Commerce conducted using computer networks can involve e-commerce, such as using web sites for promotion of goods, databases for maintaining goods and their prices, and communication between buyer and seller to conduct a sale. In e-commerce, it is often advantageous, to the potential buyer at least, to find the best price available for the same goods, where those goods can be compared between distinct sellers. For example, books are often identified using a known code, such as for example an ISBN number, that both identifies the selected book as a unique item for sale, and matches that unique item between distinct sellers. This has the effect that it is possible to compare prices for selected individual books and present information to a user regarding those prices, with the effect that the user can select their choice of where to purchase those selected books. Sellers of books are often referred to herein as “bookstores,” even when there is no physical location that might be regarded as the “store.”
A first problem with known systems for price searching is that there are often multiple aspects to the nature of the goods to be purchased, including for example delivery time and quality (such as for example “new” or “used” condition). This can be applicable even when the goods are uniquely identifiable, such as with books, because although the title and edition might be identical, the quality (new or used, and if used, with what degree of wear and tear) and delivery time (which might depend strongly on a selected method for shipping) might be substantially different, and thus might present substantially different perceived utility to the potential buyer. Moreover, distinct sellers might present information regarding price and other factors different formats, with the effect that such searches involve either intelligent interpretation of the information, or alternatively, relatively difficult computation in parsing the web site presentation for desired information. There are a relatively large number of possible sellers (over 500 known to be reachable online in the United States alone), and many of them are relatively unknown to the casual potential buyer, with the effect that such searches cannot easily be conducted “by hand.”
A second problem with known systems is that there are sometimes discounts, promotions, and other price reductions available to the user, with which the user is not necessarily familiar with, and which would affect the final price. For a first example, a designated bookstore might be advertising a sale on selected books, or for orders exceeding a selected amount. This information, in the price database for that bookstore, might not be associated with any identification for the selected book. For a second example, a designated bookstore might be advertising free shipping for a selected time, or for orders exceeding a selected amount. Similarly, this information, in the price database for that bookstore, might not be associated with any identification for the selected book. Also similarly to pricing information, distinct sellers might present information regarding coupons or discounts in different formats or at different locations within their web sites (or this information might be available using other channels entirely, such as for example other web sites, email advertising, or print advertising), with the effect that such searches involve either intelligent interpretation of the information, or alternatively, relatively difficult computation in parsing the web site presentation for desired information. There are typically a relatively large number of possible coupons or discounts, of which many of them require at least some review of the product and computation of the effective price reduction, with the effect that such searches also cannot easily be conducted “by hand.”
Accordingly, a simple search for lowest stated price might not deliver sufficient information regarding how the product can be purchased at least effective price.
A third problem with known systems for price searching, and for searching in general, is the trade-off between the amount of time allowed for response from a website with a possible search “hit,” and the amount of time allowed to respond to the potential buyer with search results. For example, if a selected bookstore has a web server that is slow to respond, or even unavailable, that bookstore might end up excluded from the search results if a relatively low threshold for response time is used. This problem is exacerbated if the book being searched for is relatively popular, even temporarily, such, as for example at the time of release for the book, or such as for example at the beginning of a school term for class textbooks and workbooks. As noted above, there are a relatively large number of possible sellers, and many of them are relatively unknown to the casual potential buyer, with the effect that setting parameters for response time for such searches cannot easily be tailored to each specific potential buyer.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an improved technique less subject to problems with known systems.